University of Victoria wins Canadian satellite design challengeTimes

Byline: Peter Rakobowchuk THE CANADIAN PRESS

MONTREAL * Justin Curran still remembers sleeping under a blanket decorated like a rocket ship when he was a child.

"It looked like the inside of a space shuttle with a joystick and all the switches and knobs," the 28-year-old recalls as he recounts his fascination with space. Planets could be seen through windows printed on the quilt-like fabric.

While he may have dreamed of the cosmos while under that blanket, which he still owns, Curran is a little closer to one day travelling into space and living on Mars and the moon thanks to a national competition.

The University of Victoria student is the chief engineer on a team from the B.C. university, which recently won the second Canadian Satellite Design Challenge.

The University of Victoria group built a small shoebox-sized satellite from scratch with contributions from sponsors and about $24,000 in university funding.

Curran said a team of about 20 students worked on the final build and testing of the satellite, but they weren't alone.

"It's been a multi-year project, so we've had dozens and dozens of people put their hands on the project and work on it over time," he noted.

The latest satellite challenge involved teams of students from 10 universities across Canada.

One team from Montreal's ï¿½cole Polytechnique partnered with students from the University of Bologna in Italy.

Satellites from six teams made it to the final stage of vibration tests, which were carried out on the Canadian Space Agency's David Florida Laboratory in Ottawa.

The tests simulate the vibrations satellites experience during a launch.

Curran says he always felt confident the University of Victoria team would win.

"We had a pretty good feeling right off the bat," he said. "We knew the other teams had difficulties ... but it's one of those things where you don't want to count your chickens before they're hatched."

The founder of the Canadian Satellite Design Challenge is Larry Reeves, who works at Urthecast, which developed special cameras for the International Space Station.

He says the University of Victoria's winning satellite, which measures 34 centimetres by 10 centimetres by 10 centimetres, also contains several experiments.

"They have a number of little experiments, including an Earth observation camera, on board," Reeves said in an interview.

The satellite has an experiment that uses a new type of material that's a good heat conductor.

"It's much lighter and much more efficient at conducting heat than copper pipes, which are often used for radiators right now in satellites," Reeves explained.

Another experiment involves a material that can be used to manipulate the satellite using magnetic fields.

"We found that you can actually alter the magnetic field using lasers," Curran noted.

He said the material, a type of graphite, could eventually be used to "sail" on magnetic currents between planets and other galaxies.

Reeves says the satellite will eventually be launched into orbit to conduct scientific research and monitored from a ground station at the university.

"There are some options that I can't mention until it actually happens," Reeves said.

In the meantime, the team hopes to make a few improvements to the satellite. It also has to provide documentation to the launch providers.

"There's still a lot of red tape to get through," Curran added.

The satellite, with a projected lifespan of three to five years, could be launched by a number of countries including Russia, India or China.

Montreal's Concordia University won the first design challenge in 2013, and its satellite was accepted into a European Space Agency program.

But the Montreal team is still waiting for date to get it launched into space.

BY THE NUMBERS

Annual salary (in U.S. dollars) a unionized hotel worker in New York will make in 10 years in a proposed tentative agreement. The current income is about $50,000 a year.

$52-million

How much British singer Sarah Brightman will pay for 10 days aboard the International Space Station. She is slated to fly in September, 2015.

36

Percentage of Canadians who say they will keep their electronic devices on during takeoff and landing now that it's allowed, according to a survey by Expedia.ca. The rest, we can only assume, are reading the paper.

Source: NYT, Reuters, Expedia

****

THE QUOTE

It happens to be great for Chicago, because I have the hottest brand in the world.

Donald Trump

The developer defends six-metre-high, stainless-steel letters that spell out 'Trump' on his new tower in the Windy City.

Hirmer's world curiosity has him switching modes

Byline: Bob Florence

Tomas Hirmer speaks English, French, German and Spanish. Now at age 34 he is studying medicine. It has its own language.

Hirmer wants to be a doctor. In July he will start a three-year program at the University of Calgary med school. He is already up to his scrub cap in the health field. Since January of 2013 he has worked in Calgary with a team that uses neuroArm, a system that combines robotics and magnetic resonance imaging for a neurosurgeon during an operation.

Hirmer, who has a degree in electrical engineering from Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ont., helps to set up the neuroArm robot and equipment before an operation. As neuroArm cofounder Dr. Garnette Sutherland removes a patient's brain tumour or treats a patient's vascular malformation - the process melds a surgeon's knowledge with a robot's precision - Hirmer records it all with video and photos.

He goes back and forth between two rooms, documenting the robot's movements in the operating room as well as the surgeon controlling the neuroArm in the workstation. The footage is reviewed to ensure no information is shown to identify the patient.

A surgical operation in the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary can take eight hours, going from morning to late afternoon. Hirmer is there the whole time. He takes notes. He looks for ways to do things better.

"From as far back as I remember I have pushed myself," said Hirmer. "It is important to strive for improvement."

Born in Germany, he came to Canada with his family when he was four. His mother Terry encouraged him and his sisters Lisa and Eva to be curious. She would take them on long, meandering walks every day.

"Look at what ants are doing," she'd say. Notice details. Discover.

He played hockey and did martial arts. He liked to draw.

His father Gerhard is a crucible for creativity. Gerhard reads. Gerhard innovates. As the former general manager of Magna International, an automotive supplier, Gerhard is a craftsman. His patents include vehicle sunroofs and rear signal lights.

"I hope some of his inventiveness rubs off on me," said Tomas, who last summer filed his first patent. Tomas's parents have a colourful rock crystal in a vacuum-sealed jar in their home. Tomas was given the crystal around 12 years ago at his first engineering job, working in summer as a robotics engineer for Automated Mining Systems of Aurora, Ont.

His work included going to a German mine two hours from Frankfurt. By installing automation systems, vehicles inside the mine could be remotely controlled from the surface.

"Some miners who had been injured weren't able to work underground a nymore, but this way they could still work," Hirmer said.

Knowing German, he could talk with them in their language.

"At the end of the project one of the operators gave me a gift," Hirmer said of the crystal. "That early experience showed me how we can use technology to change the quality of our lives."

He branched out.

He received a Master of Space Studies from the International Space University in Strasbourg, France, which included being an intern at the German Aerospace Center near Munich. He coauthored a journal article about wearable computers and digital vision systems for astronauts. One summer in Toronto he worked with Steve Mann, an electrical and computer engineering professor who invented Eye-Tap. The digital vision system includes a camera that fits on the bridge of a pair of glasses.

Hirmer has been a technology consultant with the World Bank and the UN in Washington, D.C. Four years ago in Canada he was working in advanced robotics for MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. One of his projects was to provide software for motor control of the Next-Generation Large Canadarm, a potential successor to the robotic arms used to deploy and manoeuvre payloads in space.

Although space seems like another world, his feet are planted on the ground.

Think about it, he said.

"When we invest in space exploration we never know what positive influence the knowledge gleaned from that technology will have here in our everyday lives," he said.

Canadarm in space is neuroArm in Calgary.

Hirmer the engineer wants to be Hirmer the doctor.

"It'll be interesting to switch modes," he said. "Engineer. Doctor. Both are problem solvers, but each one looks at it from a different point of view. I hope I'm able to combine the skills and make a unique contribution.

"Where will I be 10 years from now? I'll continue to collaborate with people. I'll continue to grow and continue to challenge myself. "Hopefully, I'll continue to foster my wonder for the world around me."

Nova Scotia Co-operative Council celebrating major milestone

Monique Chiasson

Dianne Kelderman does not take no for an answer.

It's that determination that she and the Nova Scotia Co-operative Council have in common. In fact, the non-profit provincial association's dedication to supporting and representing all co-operatives and credit unions across the province through education, marketing and representation to government and industry is part of the reason the Truro-based organization is celebrating 65 years.

"Sixty-five years is a very significant milestone. Not a lot of development agencies survive that long, especially without government finance," said Kelderman, president and CEO of the co-operative council. "We don't believe in the word, 'can't.' Failure is not an option. We can create our own answers; we don't need the middleman ... we need vision and we make things happen."

Kelderman, of Truro, adds people "probably don't know that we are one of the largest co-operatives." There are 322 co-operatives and credit unions under its umbrella. That's substantial because there are only 400 in Nova Scotia in total.

"We are one of the best-kept secrets," and that's significant, said Kelderman, "at a time when the economy is struggling."

To celebrate the co-operative's anniversary, and increase awareness, a special day of events will take place June 25.

The day will get underway at noon when California social media guru Kristen Christian, creator of Bank Transfer Day, will meet with credit union and youth leaders.

Laurie Skreslet, the first Canadian to summit Mount Everest, will be in town for a rock climbing and pizza event at the Rath Eastlink Community Centre with 18 children who are currently on the Big Brothers-Big Sisters of Colchester waiting list.

In addition, the co-operative council's annual meeting will be held at the RECC from 1:30 to 3 p.m. and is open to the public.

The main event at the RECC's Community Credit Union Arena at 6:30 p.m., with doors opening at 5:30 p.m., will feature presentations by Christian and Skreslet, and a keynote address by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield.

The event is themed No Limits.

"It will be a powerful event and it's the first live performance in Nova Scotia" that Hadfield as done, said Kelderman, noting 70 Truro Elementary School choir students, in Grades 2 to 5, will join Hadfield in singing his version of Is Somebody Singing, a song he performed from the International Space Station.

In addition, Hadfield will sign the guitar used in the performance and allow it to be raffled off, with money going to support Feed Nova Scotia. The guitar was hand-painted by local artist Duane LeBlanc and donated by Mingo Music Sales of Truro.

Kelderman anticipates up to 1,600 people will be in attendance for the No Limits event.

"People will come from across the country and the economic spinoff locally will be great as well."

Tickets can be purchased at www.ticketpro.ca and in advance at the RECC for $35.

mchiasson@trurodaily.com Twitter: @tdnMonique

Boxe(s):

DID YOU KNOW?

Some of the general programs and functions of the Nova Scotia Co-operative Union include:

Education of members, consumers and employees;

Protect the interest of co-operatives in the province regarding taxation and the promotion of legislation to ensure healthy growth of the co-operative movement;

Seeking opportunities in developing new types of enterprises such as co-operative health programs, family co-operative vacations, resorts, and funeral co-operatives.

Highlights for the co-operative council's past year include:

A preliminary analysis for the creation of a $40-million fund that will provide equity and subordinated debt to small businesses, social enterprises, co-operatives and not for profits.

Expansion of the Credit Union Loan Guarantee Program from $25 million to $50 million.

Partnership agreement with the Centre for Entrepreneurship, Education & Development for new opportunities and risk sharing with credit unions.

Connecting People for Health Co-operative (www.heathconnex.ca) has increased customers, opened doors with Doctors Nova Scotia and with the Department of Health, and has a possibility of expanding into other provinces.

Created 16 new co-operatives across many sectors, including transportation, tourism, retail, forestry, media and music.

Secured an increased to the social enterprise lending program from $150,000 to $500,000.

Figure:

Monique Chiasson - Truro Daily News

Dianne Kelderman, president and CEO of the Nova Scotia Co-operative Council, is thrilled the organization is celebrating 65 years of service. The Truro-based association will honour the milestone with major events later this month.

International Space University's summer program takes off in Montreal

Originally established at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the nine-week program is run by the Canadian Space Agency, in order to bring space education to a broad spectrum of people, so that all that space has to offer can be within reach.

The "Three Kings" of CDN Commercial Space Prepare for Changes

Only time will tell the whole story of these three critical Canadian space firms. Whatever happens over the next few months, these "three kings" will have more effect on Canada in space than anything happening at the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) or in academia.

The consultation also asked which of Canada's accomplishments of the last 150 years "make you most proud to be a Canadian?"

Medicare topped that list, followed by peacekeeping, then the 1982 Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The Conservative government, which has recently been buffeted by a series of Charter-based losses at the Supreme Court of Canada, did not mark the 25th anniversary of the Charter in 2007, nor the 30th in 2012.

The rest of the accomplishments list, in order: contribution to the Second World War; the Canadarm; multiculturalism; contribution to the First World War; bilingualism; space exploration; and the Constitution Act of 1982.

The briefing note and related documents were obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.

Glover said the exercise was simply to consult Canadians about how to celebrate 2017, adding "we have no intention of making a kind of final list."

Trudeau, Fox top list of inspirational Canadians; Medicare and peacekeeping efforts lead among proudest national achievements

Byline: DEAN BEEBY

Canadians have handed the Harper government a Top 10 list of the country's greatest heroes, featuring some of the Conservative party's greatest adversaries, past and present.

The list, compiled from online consultations in the run-up to Canada's 150th birthday in 2017, includes Pierre Trudeau, Jack Layton, David Suzuki and Lester B. Pearson.

About 12,000 Canadians participated in the online exercise, which began Dec. 11 and closed last month.

A five-part digital form included the question: Which Canadians have inspired you the most over the last 150 years? The Canadian Heritage Department extracted a Top 10 list for an April 29 briefing note for the minister, Shelly Glover.

The consultation also asked which of Canada's accomplishments of the last 150 years "make you most proud to be a Canadian?" Medicare topped that list, followed by peacekeeping, then the 1982 Charter of Rights and Freedoms at No. 3. The Conservative government, which has recently been buffeted by a series of Charter-based losses at the Supreme Court of Canada, did not mark the 25th anniversary of the Charter in 2007, nor the 30th in 2012.

The rest of the accomplishments list, in order, were: Canada's contribution to the Second World War; the Canadarm; multiculturalism; Canada's contribution to the First World War; bilingualism; space exploration; and the Constitution Act of 1982.

The briefing note and related documents were obtained by the Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act. Glover said the exercise was simply to consult Canadians about how to celebrate 2017, adding "we have no intention of making a kind of final list."

The government has yet to announce its budget and "overall theme and focus" for the 2017 celebrations.

The briefing note warns the results of the online consultations cannot be viewed as representative of the entire population, because participants self-selected.

In the end, the exercise identified more than 1,100 "inspirational" Canadians and more than 600 accomplishments.

In February, Canadian Heritage took a sample of 1,540 responses from the first 5,000 questionnaires filed, adjusting them to be regionally balanced based on population, and then produced the Top 10 lists.

Cabinet ministers have also held at least 20 roundtables since December, asking participants the same questions about heroes and accomplishments. Those Top 10 lists looked very similar to those of the online survey - though there, Sir John A. did not make the grade.

A House of Commons committee in September 2012 pressed the government to start planning for the 150th birthday celebrations "as soon as possible," noting the planning for Canada's 1967 Centennial bash took eight years, launched by Progressive Conservative prime minister John Diefenbaker. The 1967 celebrations cost about $750 million in today's dollars.

Local duo hopes to nab sci-fi/fantasy awards

Winnipeg writers Samantha Beiko and Chadwick Ginther are nominated in multiple categories for this year's Aurora Awards, presented by the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association.

Ginther is nominated for Best English Novel for Tombstone Blues, while Beiko is nominated for Best English Young Adult Library for The Lake and the Library. Beiko is also nominated for co-editing (with Sandra Kasturi) Imaginarium 2013: Best Canadian Speculative Writing, and Beiko and Ginther together are up for an award for organizing the Chiaroscura Reading Series in Winnipeg.

Among the other Aurora nominees are Canadian science-fiction star Robert Sawyer in the English-language novel category and astronaut Chris Hadfield, in the music category, for his famous video performance of David Bowie's Space Oddity.

Members of the CSFFA will vote until Sept. 6 and the winners will be announced in Vancouver in October.

-- -- --

If the highbrow horrors of HBO's True Detective left you yearning to dig a little more deeply into darkness, a new scholarly work by Winnipeg's James Goho may be what you're looking for.

Journeys Into Darkness: Critical Essays on Gothic Horror (Rowman and Littlefield Publishers) is a collection of essays "examining how supernatural fiction can explore the deepest moral, social and political concerns of the human experience."

Goho, who suspects his scholarly interest began when he was spooked by Edgar Allan Poe as a child, examines Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher, uses the Danish existentialist philosopher Soren Kierkegaard to elucidate H.P. Lovecraft, and discusses several lesser-known authors of gothic horror, including Algernon Blackwood, who set his horror stories in the Canadian wilderness.

-- -- --

After serving as assistant Crown attorney responsible for prosecutions in 20 First Nations communities in the Kenora area, Rupert Ross has come to the conclusion that a new approach is needed for aboriginal justice.

Ross, who has discussed justice and the aboriginal community in two previous books, launches his new book June 17 at 7 p.m. at McNally Robinson Booksellers. In Indigenous Healing: Exploring Traditional Paths he discusses residential schools, relocation, cultural suppression and legal discrimination and proposes that healing, or "decolonization therapy," is needed a better approach to crime and punishment.

-- -- --

A picture book about berry picking, written in two Cree dialects from northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan, was won this year's First Nation Communities Read contest.

Vancouver author and illustrator Julie Flett wrote Wild Berries/Pakwa che Menisu in two editions: a bilingual version with English and Cumberland House, Sask., Cree dialect, and a unilingual version using the Cree dialect from the Norway House area of Manitoba.

Her book was selected from a shortlist by a jury of librarians from Ontario First Nation communities and will be promoted throughout the year, according to Quill &Quire.

-- -- --

Westgate Mennonite Collegiate student Richelle Burchill's play It's Definitely About the Keys netted her the 2014 Scirocco Drama Manitoba Highschool Playwriting Competition; the play was performed at the RMTC Warehouse Theatre in late May.

Burchill is now launching a book based on the play. Illustrated paperback The End launches at McNally Robinson Booksellers in the Atrium at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

Leadership conference 'out of this world', UPEI students say

UPEI biology student Christian Norton says a national youth conference he took part in was literally out of this world.

Norton was one of three UPEI students selected to join other young leaders at the all-expenses-paid conference recently. He was joined by Joshua Mohan and Joy Ang Xin Yi.

The keynote speaker at Impact! Youth Conference for Sustainability Leadership was none other than Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who shared his perspective on the planet and the special role young people can play.

"He inspired us to be leaders," Norton said. "He is an astronaut and that is the pinnacle of most kids' dreams. He talked about space ... but the underlying theme was the essence of leadership and how to be a leader."

The UPEI students were among 175 college and university students chosen from more than 730 applicants across Canada to participate at the event hosted by the University of Guelph. The conference included workshops, mentoring and funding for student projects.

The students teamed up with experts to develop real sustainability solutions to take back to their campuses, communities and current or future workplaces.

Norton talked about the importance of not just moving into jobs like medicine, engineering or public works to gain experience and cash pay cheques. He talked about bringing ideas and concepts with them.

"We talked about challenges with sustainability, how to make sustainability accessible to the public and how to take these ideas back with us."

Norton's task at the conference was citizen engagement, finding ways to engage people about sustainability.

"The conclusion we came to is if your message isn't understandable then no one is going to understand. Communication is the most important part for citizens engagement."

Norton plans on taking the energy he came home with and applying it to a project that involves water but he isn't saying much more than that, thanks to some media training he got, learning what not to say to reporters.

Figure:

Christian Norton was one of three UPEI students chosen to attend a national youth conference featuring Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield.

Back on Earth, Chris Hadfield makes music again, this time with singer Emm Gryner

“We didn’t hire Cecil B. DeMille to make us a fireworks video,” says Chris Hadfield, the former Canadian astronaut. “That wouldn’t have suited the song at all.” The song is So Easy, a likable duet written and performed by Hadfield and the Juno-nominated musician Emm Gryner. The video for the track, shot at the Hadfield family cottage in Ontario’s Lambton County, features the pair in a casual setting, sharing lines about the struggles of life and how others make everything appear so trouble-free.

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ITS 27 YEAR HISTORY, THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE UNIVERSITY IS HOLDING ITS SPACE PROGRAM IN MONTREAL. ORIGINALLY ESTABLISHED AT THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, THE NINE WEEK PROGRAM IS RUN BY THE CANADIAN SPACE AGENCY AND THE IDEA IS TO BRING SPACE EDUCATION TO A BROAD SPECTRUM OF PEOPLE SO THAT ALL THAT SPACE HAS TO OFFER CAN BE WITHIN REACH. "SREEREKHA U" SPACE TECHNOLOGY INDIA. "DAVID KENDALL" DIRECTOR, SPACE STUDIES PROGRAM. "SCOTT MADRY" LECTURER, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA.